'He was a joy': Reflecting on snooker's departed star 20 years on.

All the young snooker player always wished to do was practice the game.

A competitive passion, developed at the tender age of three with the help of a miniature snooker set on his family's living room table in Leeds, would lead to a pro playing days that saw him win six major trophies in a six-year span.

Now marks 20 years since the adored Hunter succumbed to cancer, mere days prior to his twenty-eighth birthday.

But despite the passing of a once-in-a-generation player that transcended the game he loved, his legacy and impact on the sport and those who followed his career endure as powerful today.

'The game was his life': Early Beginnings

"It was impossible to foresee in a lifetime Paul would become a pro on the circuit," his mother states.

"However he just loved it."

Alan Hunter recalls how his son "showed no interest in anything else" other than snooker as a young boy.

"He was relentless," he says. "He practiced every night after school."

After successfully badgering his dad to take him to a community venue to play on regulation tables at the age of eight, the aspiring talent made the leap from home play with aplomb.

His mercurial talent would be developed by the snooker legend Joe Johnson, from neighbouring Bradford, at a now closed venue in the area of Yeadon.

Quick Success: A Star is Born

With his family's urging to do his homework often being ignored as the game dominated, his parents took the "risk" of taking Hunter out of school at the fourteen years old to fully concentrate on carving out a career in the game.

It paid off in spades. Within five years, their adolescent had won his maior professional trophy, the 1998 Welsh Open.

Considered one of snooker's toughest events to win because of the presence of exclusively the best, Hunter won a trio of times, in the early 2000s.

'A Cheeky Charm': His Enduring Personality

But for all his success on the table, away from the game Hunter's down-to-earth charisma never faded.

"His demeanor was excellent did Paul," Alan says. "He connected with everybody."

"Upon meeting him you'd like him," Kristina adds. "He was enjoyable. He'd make you relaxed."

Hunter's partner Lindsey, with whom he had a child, describes him as an "amazing, young cheeky beautiful soul" who was "funny, kind" and "always the last to leave the party".

With his effortless appeal, handsome features and straight-talking media manner, not to mention his immense skill, Hunter quickly became snooker's pin-up for the modern era.

No wonder then, that he was christened 'A Sporting Icon'.

Facing Adversity: A Fight Against Cancer

In the mid-2000s, a year that should have signaled the zenith of his talent, Hunter was found to have cancer and would later undergo chemotherapy.

Multiple accounts from across the sporting world highlight the man's extraordinary dedication to honor obligations to exhibitions, events and press interviews, all while undergoing treatment.

Despite gruelling side effects, Hunter kept playing through the illness and received a tumultuous reception at The Crucible Theatre when he played at the World Championships that year.

When he passed away in autumn 2006, snooker's close-knit fraternity lost one of its best-loved members.

"It's awful," Kristina says. "It is a terrible thing for any mum and dad to lose a child."

A Foundation for the Future: Giving Back

Hunter's true legacy would be felt not in palaces and castles but in community venues across the UK.

The foundation he inspired, set up before his death, would provide no-cost coaching to children all over the country.

The program was so successful that, according to reports, local youth crime rates in some areas fell sharply.

"The goal was for a scheme to help provide a positive outlet," one official said.

The Foundation helped lay the groundwork for a huge coaching programme, which has opened up playing opportunities to children all over the world.

"He would have embraced what we've done with the sport and where it is today," a leading figure in the sport stated.

Never Forgotten: 20 Years Later

Classic footage of their son's matches online help his parents stay "connected to him".

"I can access it and I can watch Paul whenever I wish," Kristina says. "It's wonderful!"

"We are happy to speak about Paul," she continues. "At first it was sad, but I'd rather somebody talk than him not be recalled."

While he never won the World Championship, the highly probable notion that Hunter would have gone on to lift snooker's top honor is ingrained in the sport's folklore.

The Masters, the competition with which he is most synonymous, begins later this month. The winner will lift the trophy named in his honor.

But for all his successes, two decades after his death it is Paul Hunter's spirit, as much his brilliant talent on the table, that will ensure he is forever celebrated.